1928 in film

The following is an overview of 1928 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. Although some films released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent. This year is notable for the introduction of the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey Mouse, in the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first film to include a soundtrack completely created in post production.

Fandom movies:1928

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1928 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Rank	Title	Distributor	Domestic rentals
1	The Singing Fool	Warner Bros.	$3,821,000
2	The Circus	United Artists	$1,820,000
3	Street Angel	Fox Film	$1,700,000
4	Lilac Time	Warner Bros.	$1,675,000
5	Four Sons Ramona	Fox Film United Artists	$1,500,000
6	Noah's Ark	Warner Bros.	$1,367,000
7	The Red Dance In Old Arizona	Fox Film	$1,300,000
8	The Terror	Warner Bros.	$1,221,000
9	Lights of New York	Warner Bros.	$1,160,000
10	My Man	Warner Bros.	$1,099,000

Events

January 6 – The long-awaited Charlie Chaplin comedy The Circus premieres at the Strand Theatre in New York City.
April 21 – The Passion of Joan of Arc is released.
July 6 – Lights of New York is released by Warner Bros. It is the first "100% Talkie" feature film, in that dialog is spoken throughout the film. Previous releases Don Juan and The Jazz Singer had used a synchronized soundtrack with sound effects and music, with The Jazz Singer having a few incidental lines spoken by Al Jolson.
September 19 – The Singing Fool, Warner Bros' follow-up to The Jazz Singer, is released. While still only a partial-talkie, 66 minutes of the film's 105 minute running time feature dialogue or songs, making it the longest talking motion picture yet. It is the highest-grossing film of the year, becomes Warner Bros' highest-grossing film for the next 13 years, is the most financially successful film of Al Jolson's career and also remains the highest-grossing sound film until the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937.
October 23 – RKO Productions Inc. created
November 10 – At the beginning of White Shadows in the South Seas, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's mascot Leo the Lion roars for the very first time, giving voice to one of the most popular American film logos.
November 18 – Disney's Steamboat Willie premieres, marking the official introduction of Mickey Mouse. This animated short is the first film to include a soundtrack completely created in post production, including sound effects, music and dialogue.
December 25 – In Old Arizona, released by Fox Films, is the first sound-on-film feature-length talkie, utilizing the Movietone process. Previously, feature-length talkies used the less-reliable Vitaphone sound-on-disc process. It is also the first Western talkie, and the first sound film primarily shot outdoors.

Academy Awards

Best Picture: Wings – Paramount Pictures
Best Unique and Artistic Picture: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans – Fox Film Corporation
Best Director, Dramatic Picture: Frank Borzage – 7th Heaven
Best Director, Comedy Picture: Lewis Milestone – Two Arabian Knights
Best Actor: Emil Jannings – The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh
Best Actress: Janet Gaynor – 7th Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

Note: Prior to 1933, awards were not based on calendar years, which is why there is no 'Best Picture' for a 1928 film.

Notable films released in 1928

United States unless stated

N

The New Version of the Ghost of Yotsuya , directed by Daisuke Itō, based on the 1825 play Yotsuya Kaidan by Tsuruya Nanboku IV –
Noah's Ark, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Dolores Costello, George O'Brien and Noah Beery Sr.
The Noose, directed by John Francis Dillon, starring Richard Barthelmess and Thelma Todd
Number 17 , directed by Géza von Bolváry, starring Guy Newall and Lien Deyers –

O

October: Ten Days That Shook the World , directed by Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Aleksandrov –
On Trial, directed by Archie Mayo, starring Pauline Frederick, Bert Lytell and Lois Wilson
Our Dancing Daughters, directed by Harry Beaumont, starring Joan Crawford and Johnny Mack Brown

P

The Passion of Joan of Arc , directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, starring Renée Jeanne Falconetti –
The Patsy, directed by King Vidor, starring Marion Davies and Marie Dressler
The Phantom City, directed by Albert S. Rogell, starring Ken Maynard
The Power of the Press, directed by Frank Capra, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Jobyna Ralston

R

The Racket, directed by Lewis Milestone, starring Thomas Meighan, Louis Wolheim and Marie Prevost
Ramona, directed by Edwin Carewe, starring Dolores del Río and Warner Baxter
Ransom, directed by George B. Seitz, starring Lois Wilson
Rasputin, the Holy Sinner , directed by Martin Berger –
Rasputin, the Prince of Sinners , directed by Nikolai Larin and Boris Nevolin –
The Red Dance, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Dolores del Río and Charles Farrell
Red Hair, directed by Clarence G. Badger, starring Clara Bow and Lane Chandler
The Ringer, directed by Arthur Maude –
The Road to Ruin, directed by Norton S. Parker, starring Helen Foster
Rose-Marie, directed by Lucien Hubbard, starring Joan Crawford

S

Sadie Thompson, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Gloria Swanson and Lionel Barrymore
The Seashell and the Clergyman , directed by Germaine Dulac –
Sex in Chains , starring and directed by William Dieterle –
Show People, directed by King Vidor, starring Marion Davies and William Haines
The Singing Fool, directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Al Jolson
Sins of the Fathers, directed by Ludwig Berger, starring Emil Jannings and Ruth Chatterton
Skyscraper, directed by Howard Higgin, starring William Boyd and Alan Hale
The Smart Set, directed by Jack Conway, starring William Haines
Something Always Happens, directed by Frank Tuttle, starring Esther Ralston, Neil Hamilton and Sôjin Kamiyama
A South Sea Bubble, directed by T. Hayes Hunter, starring Ivor Novello and Benita Hume –
Speedy, directed by Ted Wilde, starring Harold Lloyd
Spione , directed by Fritz Lang, starring Rudolf Klein-Rogge –
Steamboat Bill, Jr., directed by Charles Reisner, starring Buster Keaton and Ernest Torrence
Steamboat Willie, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, debut of Mickey and Minnie Mouse
Storm Over Asia , directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin, starring Valéry Inkijinoff –
Street Angel, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell
Sweeney Todd, directed by Walter West, based on the 1847 stage play The String of Pearls, or The Fiend of Fleet Street by George Dibdin-Pitt) –

T

Take Me Home, directed by Marshall Neilan, starring Bebe Daniels and Neil Hamilton
The Tell-Tale Heart, directed by Charles Klein and Leon Shamroy, based on the 1843 short story by Edgar Allan Poe
Tempest, directed by Sam Taylor, starring John Barrymore, Camilla Horn and Louis Wolheim
The Terrible People, a 10-chapter serial directed by Spencer Gordon Bennett, starring Allene Ray and Walter Miller, based on the 1926 novel by Edgar Wallace
The Terror, directed by Roy Del Ruth, starring May McAvoy, Louise Fazenda and Edward Everett Horton, based on the 1927 stage play by Edgar Wallace
Terror Mountain, directed by Louis King, starring Tom Tyler
Tesha, directed by Victor Saville and Edwin Greenwood, starring María Corda –
Thérèse Raquin, directed by Jacques Feyder –
A Thief in the Dark, directed by Albert Ray
Three Sinners, directed by Rowland V. Lee, starring Pola Negri, Warner Baxter and Olga Baclanova
Tillie's Punctured Romance, directed by A. Edward Sutherland, starring W. C. Fields, Chester Conklin and Louise Fazenda
Tommy Atkins, directed by Norman Walker, starring Lillian Hall-Davis – GB)
Toni, directed by Arthur Maude, starring Jack Buchanan –
The Trail of '98, directed by Clarence Brown, starring Dolores del Río, Ralph Forbes and Karl Dane
The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel, directed by T. Hayes Hunter, starring Matheson Lang –
Two Tars, directed by James Parrott, starring Laurel and Hardy

U

Underground, directed by Anthony Asquith –

V

The Viking, directed by Roy William Neill, starring Donald Crisp
Vormittagsspuk , directed by Hans Richter –
The Vortex, directed by Adrian Brunel, starring Ivor Novello –

W

We Faw Down, directed by Leo McCarey, starring Laurel and Hardy
The Wedding March, directed by and starring Erich von Stroheim with Fay Wray and ZaSu Pitts
West of Zanzibar, directed by Tod Browning, starring Lon Chaney, Lionel Barrymore and Warner Baxter, based on the 1926 stage play Kongo by Chester De Vonde
What a Night!, directed by A. Edward Sutherland, starring Bebe Daniels and Neil Hamilton
While the City Sleeps, directed by Jack Conway, starring Lon Chaney, Anita Page and Mae Busch
White Shadows in the South Seas, directed by W. S. Van Dyke
The Wind, directed by Victor Sjöström, starring Lillian Gish and Lars Hanson
A Woman of Affairs, directed by Clarence Brown, starring John Gilbert, Greta Garbo, Lewis Stone, Johnny Mack Brown and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Z

Zvenigora, directed by Alexander Dovzhenko –

Short film series

Animated short film series

Felix the Cat
Aesop's Film Fables
Krazy Kat
Inkwell Imps
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
* Harem Scarem
* Neck 'n' Neck
* The Ol' Swimmin' Hole
* Africa Before Dark
* Rival Romeos
* Bright Lights
* Oh, What a Knight
* Sagebrush Sadie
* Ride'em Plow Boy
* Sky Scrappers
* Ozzie of the Mounted
* Hungry Hobos
* Poor Papa
* The Fox Chase
* Tall Timber
* Sleigh Bells
* Hot Dog
Newslaffs
Mickey Mouse
* Plane Crazy
* The Gallopin' Gaucho
* ''Steamboat Willie''

Births

January 1 – Helen Westcott, American actress
January 2 – Ellen Kaarma, Estonian actress
January 5 – Denise Bryer, British actress
January 7 – William Peter Blatty, American screenwriter
January 13 - Gregory Walcott, American actor
January 15 – Joanne Linville, American actress
January 20 – Peter Donat, Canadian-American actor
January 23 – Jeanne Moreau, French actress, singer, screenwriter and director
January 26 – Roger Vadim, French director, screenwriter and actor
February 1 – Stuart Whitman, American film and television actor
February 4 – Vincent Wong, Jamaican-born British-Chinese actor
February 7 - Leonard Jackson, American actor
February 8 – Jack Larson, American actor
February 11 – Conrad Janis, American actor
February 14 - Margaret Bowman, American actress
February 16 – Eva Ingeborg Scholz, German actress
February 18 – Little Caesar, American singer and actor
February 22 – Paul Dooley, American actor, writer and comedian
February 24 – Al Lettieri, American actor
February 28
*Tom Aldredge, American actor
*Stanley Baker, Welsh actor and film producer
February 29
*Joss Ackland, English actor
*Tempest Storm, American burlesque performer and actress
March 1 – Jacques Rivette, French director
March 3 – Joe Conley, American actor
March 5 - Alyque Padamsee, Indian ad filmmaker and actor
March 11 – Albert Salmi, American actor
March 12 - Robert Paynter, English cinematographer and actor
March 13 – Douglas Rain, Canadian actor
March 16 – Victor Maddern, English actor
March 17 – Eunice Gayson, English actress
March 19
*Marceline Loridan-Ivens, French actor
*Patrick McGoohan, Irish actor
*Jan Shepard, American actress
March 24 – Vanessa Brown American actress
March 27 – Reg Evans, British actor
March 29 – Philip Locke, English actor
March 30 – Lilia Prado, Mexican actress, dancer
March 31 – June Jago, Australian actress
April 1 – George Grizzard, American actor
April 2 – Piet Römer, Dutch actor
April 3 – Kevin Hagen, American actor
April 4
*Estelle Harris, American actress and comedienne
*Monty Norman, English composer of the "James Bond Theme"
April 7
*James Garner, American actor
*Valeria Sabel, Italian actress
April 11 – Henri Garcin, Belgian actor
April 12 – Hardy Krüger, German actor
April 23 – Shirley Temple, American actress
May 1 – Vitaly Melnikov, Russian director and screenwriter
May 3
*Jeanne Bal, American actress
*Julien Guiomar, French actor
May 7
*John Ingle, American actor
*Georgi Rusev, Bulgarian actor
May 9 - Douglas Rain, Canadian actor
May 12 – Burt Bacharach, American composer and songwriter
May 18
*John Abineri, English actor
*Sara Shane, American actress
May 21 – Alice Drummond, American actress
May 23 – Nigel Davenport, English actor
May 28 – Gina Cabrera, Cuban actress
May 30 – Agnès Varda, Belgian-born French director, producer and screenwriter
June 2 – Bob Amsberry, American actor
June 4 – Ruth Westheimer, German-American sex therapist, talk show host and actress
June 5 – Robert Lansing, American actor
June 7 – James Ivory, American director, producer and screenwriter
June 8 – Mimi Mariani, Indonesian actress, model, and singer
June 9 – Jackie Mason, American stand-up comedian and actor
June 12
*Vic Damone, American singer, entertainer and actor
*Tom Rosqui, American character actor
*Richard M. Sherman, American film songwriter
June 13 – Nikola Todev, Bulgarian actor
June 15 – Morgan Jones, American actor
June 16 – Ernst Stankovski, Austrian actor
June 19 – Nancy Marchand, American actress
June 20
*William Berger, American actor
*Martin Landau, American actor
June 21 – Margit Bara, Hungarian actress
June 22 – Ralph Waite, American actor
June 29 – Ian Bannen, Scottish actor
June 30 – Clifford David, American actor and singer
July 5 - Warren Oates, American actor
July 6 – Nestor de Villa, Filipino actor
July 7 – Pat Hitchcock, English actress and producer
July 9 – Vince Edwards, American actor, director, and singer
July 12 – Peter Cellier, English actor
July 13
*Bob Crane, American actor
*Mace Neufeld, American film and television producer
July 14 – Nancy Olson, American actress
July 15 – Tom Troupe, American actor and writer
July 21 – Chuck Low, American actor
July 22 – Orson Bean, American actor
July 24 – Michael Currie, American actor
July 26 – Joe Jackson, American talent manager
July 26 - Stanley Kubrick, American director
August 1 – Nick LaTour, American actor
August 6 – Andy Warhol, American artist and director
August 10 – Gus Mercurio, American-born Australian character actor
August 14
*Joëlle Bernard, French actress
*Jacques Rouffio, French director and screenwriter
*Lina Wertmüller, Italian screenwriter and director
August 15
*Nosher Powell, English actor and stuntman
*Nicolas Roeg, English director
*Simone Silva, Egyptian-born French actress
*Raymond Llewellyn, Welsh actor
August 16 – Ann Blyth, American actress
August 18 – Norma Donaldson, American actress and singer
August 20 - Buddy Van Horn, American stunt coordinator and director
August 27 – Bernard Atha, English actor
August 28 – Charles Gray, English actor
August 31 – James Coburn, American actor
September 1
*George Maharis, American actor
*Allene Roberts, American actor
September 3 – Pilar Pallete, Peruvian actress
September 4 – Dick York, American actor
September 9 – Darrell Zwerling, American character actor
September 11 – Earl Holliman, American actor
September 17 – Roddy McDowall, British actor
September 19 – Adam West, American actor
September 22 – Eugene Roche, American actor
October 1
*Laurence Harvey, Lithuanian British actor
*George Peppard, American actor
*Erica Yohn, American actress
October 2 – George McFarland, American actor
October 6 – Barbara Werle, American actress
October 17 – Don Collier, American actor
October 25
*Jeanne Cooper, American actress
*Anthony Franciosa, American actor
*Marion Ross, American actress
October 29
*Ben Chapman, American actor
*Jack Donner, American actor
November 1 – Emmaline Henry, American actress
November 3
*Wanda Hendrix, American actress
*Lew Palter, American actor
November 5 – Gwen Van Dam, American actress
November 10
*Ennio Morricone, Italian composer
*Norma Crane, American actress
November 13
*Helena Carroll, Scottish-American actress
*Ralph Foody, American actor
November 14 – Kathleen Hughes, American actress
November 16 – Clu Gulager, American actor
November 20 – Franklin Cover, American actor
November 23 – Elmarie Wendel, American actress singer
November 25 – Rance Howard, American actor
December 1 – Malachi Throne, American actor
December 3 – Carlo Giuffrè, Italian actor
December 5 – Barbara Krafftówna, Polish actress
December 6 – Lance Fuller, American actor
December 9 – Dick Van Patten, American actor
December 10 – Barbara Nichols, American actress
December 12
*Lionel Blair, English actor and television presenter
*Roberto Contreras, American actor
December 13 – Nati Mistral, Spanish actress
December 16 – Terry Carter, American actor and filmmaker
December 17 – Leonid Bronevoy, Russian actor
December 21 – Ed Nelson, American actor
December 25 – Dick Miller, American actor
December 29
*Bernard Cribbins, English actor and singer
*June Preston, American child actress

Deaths

January 2 – Emily Stevens, American stage & film actress
January 3 – Claude France, German film actress
January 11 - Rapley Holmes, Canadian stage and screen actor
January 25 – Charles Gorman, American stage and screen actor
January 26 - Earl Metcalfe, American actor,
February 22 – Rudolph J. Bergquist American cinematographer
March 5 – Lidia Quaranta, Italian actress
March 13 – Elsie Mackay, British actress and heiress; lost at sea
April 22 – Frank Currier, American director, stage & silent film actor
June 22 – George Siegmann, American silent film actor
June 24 – Holbrook Blinn, American stage & silent film actor
July 20 – Scott Sidney, American film director
July 21
*Ellen Terry, British stage actress of the Victorian and Edwardian times and later a silent film actress
*Ward Crane, American film actor
August 10 – Rex Cherryman, American actor
August 17 – Frank Urson, American film director
August 26 – Colin Campbell, British-born film director
October 8 – Larry Semon, American film comedian
November 10 – Anita Berber, German film actress
November 19 – Jeanne Bérangère, French stage and film actress
December 14 – Theodore Roberts, American film actor
December 25 – Fred Thomson, American film actor

Film debuts

Mabel Albertson – Gang War
Mischa Auer – Something Always Happens
Ward Bond – Noah's Ark
Joe E. Brown – Crooks Can't Win
Dorothy Burgess – In Old Arizona
Madeleine Carroll – The Guns of Loos
Hobart Cavanaugh – San Francisco Nights
G. Pat Collins – The Racket
Andy Devine – That's My Daddy
Lien Deyers – Spione
Stuart Erwin – Mother Knows Best
Anne Grey – The Constant Nymph
Gustl Gstettenbaur – Spione
Jean Harlow – Honor Bound
Paul Hörbiger – Spione
Anna Magnani – Scampolo
Ray Milland – Moulin Rouge
Edward Nugent – The Man in Hobbles
Lynne Overman – The Perfect Crime
Randolph Scott – Sharp Shooters
Delmar Watson – Taxi 13
Harry Watson – ''Taxi 13''